High
death toll and intensity of IDF offensive rallies Palestinians behind
Hamas, evaporating any criticism of group's possible responsibility for
triggering escalation.
By Amira Hass
"The
IDF hasn’t succeeded or bothered to find the rocket launchers
themselves, and so they’re attacking civilian targets, not hesitating to
kill many civilians and children,” is the prevailing conclusion amongst
Gaza residents, who also claim that the current attacks are less
restrained than Operation Pillar of Defense.
Over the last two days of frequent airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, Israel has killed at least 51 Palestinians (as of Wednesday
evening). The high number of civilian casualties and intensity of the
attacks has in the meantime negated any criticism of Hamas for
triggering the escalation. It seems that even those who aren’t Hamas
supporters understand the organization’s position, and at this point the
Israeli attacks have fostered unity among the Palestinians. Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas said during an emergency meeting of Palestinian
leadership that “this is not a war against some faction, or Hamas, but
rather against the entire Palestinian people,” and that it is a
continuation of the attack on civilian Palestinian infrastructure in
Hebron, that then continued into Jerusalem. “This is not collective
punishment, this is destruction of entire families,” said Abbas, who in
recent weeks has been accused of failing to sufficiently condemn the
wave of Israeli oppression in the Middle East.
Without
sirens, shelters, or Iron Dome systems, and with blackouts roughly
every eight hours, each of the 1.7 million Gaza residents feel as if
they are a human target for IDF bombs and rockets. No home or street is
safe, and there’s no knowing where the next strike will hit. Most Gaza
residents were unable to sleep overnight Tuesday
due to the frequent attacks. During the day, traffic is light, and
people leave their homes only for urgent business – not even for the
Iftar meal which breaks the daily Ramadan fast. Universities cancelled
classes on Wednesday and Thursday.
Hardest of all is dealing with children's fears, as it is impossible to
hide from them the images of destroyed homes and dead children, buried
under the ruins.
Though the IDF warned families of imminent attacks on their homes on Tuesday, warnings were not issued in every case on Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Such was the case at the home of Islamic Jihad operative Haffz Hamad’s
home, where he was killed, along with his 65-year-old mother, his wife,
and two other siblings. Five more family members were wounded.
On Tuesday,
the Kaware family from Khan Yunis, a member of which is a Hamas
operative, received such a warning by phone, eighty minutes before a
small rocket hit the boiler on their roof. Family members that fled the
house decided to gather around it, and after the rocket hit, decided to
go up to the roof along with neighbors, believing the IDF wouldn’t dare
to attack the house. They were wrong. At 3:00 P.M. an F16 fired at the home, killing eight, including six children. Another 28 were wounded.
According
to a B’Tselem press release, attacking the homes of militant
organization operatives is a violation of international humanitarian
law, which stipulates that only elements that directly contribute to
military efforts are legitimate targets. The IDF’s reading of this law,
by which it is allowed to knowingly harm civilians as well, is illegal,
according to the human rights group, which stated that the IDF has
apparently changed its rules of engagement.
In a notification published by the IDF on Tuesday,
it was stated that “among the structures targeted were the homes of
four operatives from the Hamas terrorist organization which are involved
in terror activities and act to fire long-range weapons at Israeli
territory.” This statement from the IDF itself indicates that the
attacks were targeting civilian homes. Later, according to B’Tselem, the
IDF published a different version of the statement, “which included an
attempt to retroactively suit the actions to international law, which
claimed that the homes in question belonged to ‘senior figures and
served as command centers.’” B’Tselem stated that the IDF cannot fulfill
its obligations by providing advance warning, and that the advanced
optical equipment in its possession can allow commanders to know if
family members have evacuated or returned to the house in question.
According
to reports from Israeli journalists, Hamas has either instructed or
advised residents not to leave their homes. Gaza residents have stated
that they haven’t heard such instructions, and that it is a kind of
“psychological warfare” being waged against them by the Israeli media.
They believe that some people spontaneously decided not to leave their
homes in hopes that the IDF would not attack them, or that they decided
not to leave their homes as they believed that in the face of such a
humiliating action as being instructed to leave, they should not follow
the IDF’s orders.
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